#7: Lasagna at Mama Josephine's

​The lasagna is served in a large bowl, as sure a sign of any of its serious intent. There are eight layers, though you will likely be too busy digging into the gravy-thick meat sauce -- simmered for eight hours -- to bother counting. The proportions are key: The lasagna does not swim in its own sauce, nor do the noodles overwhelm everything else with their floppy blandness. There is exactly enough soft, sweet ricotta, precisely enough melted mozzarella.